A third-generation Christian retailer presented the 'ex-factor' to approximately 40 fellow retailers Tuesday with hopes of encouraging them to be relevant in today's retail culture. In the “Retail Trends: What Do Your Customers Say?” workshop, Covenant Group founder and President Chuck Wallington shared tips and pointers to help retailers become “the preferred choice of modern customers.”

“Today's shopper is more empowered than ever,” said Wallington, owner of Christian Supply in Spartanburg, S.C. “They can do more with what's in their pockets. They can access customer reviews [of products]. They're savvy. … What do we do about it? If you're looking for a silver bullet, the Lone Ranger died a long time ago. The answer is different for each one of us. We have to figure out what works.”

Wallington then discussed his five “ex-factor in retail trends”: Examine (take a look at your store with your “customers' eyes”); Exploit (find ways to leverage our brick-and-mortar advantage over online competitors); Expand (find products you “can own” and get decent margin with them); Express (find ways to connect with your customers through old-fashioned media such as thank-you cards and new media such as Facebook and Twitter); and Exit.

“If you're not going to change, you might as well exit,” said Wallington, whose Covenant Group offers ebooks and recently launched a mobile app. “The good old days are not coming back. … We absolutely have to make it. I encourage you to stay the course and finish the race. Most of us feel a deep sense of calling that this is what God wants us to do.”

Joanne Sheehand, manager of Promise Book Shoppe in Tarpon Springs, Fla., told Christian Retailing that Wallington's presentation was both “encouraging and enlightening.” His five bullet points “help me apply and retain what I learned for our shop,” she said. “I'm now seriously looking into ebooks.”

Fantly Smither, who attended the workshop with his wife, Elizabeth, agreed.

“He was very helpful because of his experience and retailing savvy,” said Smither, who is seeking to open a store in Frankfort, Ky. “We are prospective retailers, so anything we can learn is helpful.”

The Parable Group honored its franchise stores with awards for excellence in retailing at its annual franchise meeting in Orlando, Fla., ahead of ICRS. Parable recognized various successes by store owners, honoring four stores for achieving excellence in Sales, Customer Service and Overall Operations.

"In the midst of the challenging economy, we celebrate that a number of stores have seen increases in sales,” said Steve Adams, Parable director of franchise operations.” The Sales Increase Award is simply that—recognition for the store that showed the most positive sales increase for 2011 through May 2012."

The Sales award went to Lorre Pagni, owner of His Word Parable Christian Store in Sparks, Nev. Honorable mentions were given to Bruce and Cindy Anderson at Alpha & Omega Parable Christian Store in Rochester, N.Y., and Mitch Engelstad at Christian Bookshelf, A Parable Christian Store in Grand Forks, N.D.

In the category of Excellence in Customer Service, Parable identified winners in large and small store categories.

"We zeroed in on stores who have consistently scored highest in customer service reports, which reflect the whole customer shopping experience,” Adams said. “Customer opinion matters and these stores have served them well.”

The small store award was given to Sam and Judy Walker at Sonlight Parable Christian Store in Sheboygan, Wis., and the large store award was given to Kregel Parable Christian Store, recognizing owners Jim and Kathie Kregel.

The Kregels were also honored with the Overall Excellence Award, which takes into consideration all areas of retailing—operations, merchandising, customer service and innovation.

Ingram Publisher Services, an Ingram Content Group company, has announced an agreement with Destiny Image (DI) to grow the reach of DI’s publishing program to more book buyers worldwide. Ingram will begin distributing Destiny Image books and Destiny Image Films products beginning in January 2013.

“We are eager to increase our sales with Christian and independent bookstores,” said Don Nori Sr., founder and author. “In a changing market, Ingram has the solutions required to expand our reach to an even broader audience. We’re already taking advantage of Ingram’s CoreSource platform and print-on-demand through Lightning Source, and the addition of sales and distribution will further position us for future success.”

The Pennsylvania-based publisher is home to New York Times and USA Today best-selling authors, including T.D. Jakes, Cindy Trimm, Jackie Kendall, Bill Johnson, Tommy Tenney and Myles Munroe.

“The combination of Ingram’s integrated services, extensive distribution network and long-standing Spring Arbor relationships in the Christian market provide a unique solution for publishers to get the most value out of their content and reach more readers,” said Mark Ouimet, vice president and general manager, Ingram Publisher Services. “We are pleased that Destiny Image has our full offering available to them to expand its worldwide reach and drive sales in both print and digital.”

Lynn Austin continues atop the Christy Award winners, winning her eighth in Monday evening’s event at the Rosen Centre in Orlando, Fla. Wonderland Creek (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group) won in the Historical category.

Anne Elisabeth Stengl took home the Visionary award for Veiled Rose (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group) after winning the First Novel category last year—a first in Christy Award history.

Ginny Yttrup’s Words (B&H Books), which she said told her “very personal story,” was a finalist in two categories and won in First Novel.

The other winners named were: Promises to Keep, Ann Tatlock (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); The Maid of Fairbourne Hall, Julie Klassen (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); The Queen, Steven James (Revell/Baker Publishing Group); Waterfall, Lisa T. Bergren (David C Cook; Wolfsbane, Ronie Kendig (Barbour Publishing); and The Amish Midwife, Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould (Harvest House Publishers).

Christy Award-winning author Liz Curtis Higgs emceed the event, while Allen Arnold of Ransomed Heart Ministries, but formerly with Thomas Nelson as fiction publisher, gave the keynote address, “Captured by Story: Unpublished Thoughts on Finding True North in a Changing Landscape.”

With comfortable shoes on their feet and rolling bags by their sides, hundreds of retailers joined CBA board members in front of the exhibit hall doors Monday morning for the annual ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the sales floor at the 2012 ICRS in Orlando, Fla.

Irish pop band Rend Collective Experiment drew a buzz among the crowd with their infectious Celtic-flavored pop sound as they introduced new songs to the audience waiting for the doors to open.

Orlando Children’s Church pastor Peter O’Driscoll was also on hand to accept a check for $7,800, a donation given by ICRS attendees to the church for homeless and hurting kids. Monies were collected in an offering at Sunday’s worship service, and Spring Arbor added $2,000 to the total.

Attendees of the CBA Members Luncheon took a trip down memory lane Monday as Tyndale House Publishers President Mark Taylor commemorated the company’s 50th anniversary during the event. Taylor shared how his father, Ken Taylor, was one of the founders of the Christian Booksellers Association (now CBA) and that he attended the CBA Convention each year on behalf of Moody Press (now Moody Publishers).

“But 50 years ago, at the CBA Convention in July 1962, Ken wasn’t in the Moody Press booth,” Taylor said. “He was across the room in a little 5-foot booth that was labeled Tyndale House Publishers. Ken’s bookstore friends were curious and perhaps confused. 'Ken, why aren’t you in the Moody Press booth? What’s Tyndale House Publishers?'

“Ken responded, 'My newest book is called Living Letters, and I’ve decided to publish it myself,' ” he added. “I’m using the name Tyndale House for my little company. Here, take a look at Living Letters. It’s a modern translation of the New Testament epistles.”

In 1963, at the request of evangelist Billy Graham, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association printed and distributed 600,000 copies of Living Letters, and sales of the easy-to-read translation of the New Testament soon took off.

In 1971, The Living Bible, the follow-up to Living Letters, was published, and it became the best-selling book in America for the next three years. Taylor also shared about Tyndale's best-sellers through the years, including Josh McDowell's More Than a Carpenter, James Dobson's The Strong-Willed Child and Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' “Left Behind” series.

Jack Savage and his wife, Ruth Ann—owners for more than 52 years of Jack's Religious Gift Shop in Salisbury, Md., which now only carries church supplies—said it was a “nice surprise” to see Tyndale mark its anniversary.

“Ken Taylor presented us with several plaques for selling 25,000 copies of The Living Bible in the 1970s,” Jack Savage told Christian Retailing.“It was so interesting to see the old titles by Tyndale, many of which are still in print. To me, it was the highlight of the luncheon. Matthew West was also good with his story.”

The singer/songwriter performed “Strong Enough” as well as the title track from his forthcoming release, Forgiveness (Sparrow Records/EMI CMG Distribution). West received a rousing response for singing and sharing the inspiration behind the song “Forgiveness”—Renee Napier, whose 20-year-old daughter was killed by a drunk driver whom she chose to forgive and asked for his early release. West brought Napier on stage, and she received a standing ovation. 

A 10-hour mini-series drama based on the stories in the Bible received a rousing reception Monday during a sneak peak of the ambitious project.

Best known for producing the TV shows Survivor, The Voice and The Apprentice, Mark Burnett and his actress wife, Roma Downey, of Touched by an Angel fame, gave conventioneers a first-look of The Bible, an adaptation of the scriptures planned to air on the History Channel, starting Easter 2013.

CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey introduced the project, which Burnett and Downey, who are both Christians, have been working to produce for the past two years.

“The basis of what we do in the Christian product industry is God's Word,” he said. “That is why this project is so exciting because it is bringing the Bible in written form, more to life.”

Burnett said the couple returned last week from five months of shooting in Morocco to complete filming of the docudrama, which chronicles well-known characters and events in the Bible such as Noah's Ark, Abraham offering to sacrifice Isaac, the Exodus and the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

“This is a passion project for Mark and I,” Downey told a capacity crowd, noting that the live-action production was bathed in prayer. “We hope that this will to go to all corners of the world to bring the Word of God alive to people.”

Burnett, who showed several clips, including Jesus' birth and John the Baptist baptizing Christ, admitted that the mini-series was “very dark” in its portrayals of characters and events, but also “intensely light” in its redemptive parts.

Burnett and Downey received a standing ovation from the audience after the clips were shown. “From what I've seen, it's going to be amazing,” Riskey told Christian Retailing after the dessert reception, sponsored by the History Channel and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

FaithWords plans a novelization of The Bible, and Twentieth Century Fox will release and distribute the DVDs.

“I believe this project is going to be a cultural event and seismic in the entertainment world,” Simon Swart, executive vice president and general manager North America of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, told the audience.